


Pokemon: Sharpened Sword and Reinforced Shield

by ThePhantom69



Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: F/M, Pokemon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:40:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26711593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePhantom69/pseuds/ThePhantom69
Summary: An adventure through Galar. A boy who wanted none of this. And a place that is not what it seems.16-year old Marshall Law goes out into Galar, for a Pokemon journey. He's shy, yet adventurous, sarcastic, yet friendly, funny, yet understanding.....And fearful.Yet brave.He never asked to be a hero. But, if he needs to, then he will.On the way, he meets many people, some familiar, others not, and captures a LARGE team, using the newly-invented portable PC in order to have a team of more than 6, switching them around whenever needed.Also, for the sake of not being sued, uhh...something something copyright somethingI don't own Pokemon(Although I wish I did), and Pokemon belongs to Gamefreak.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. MC Introduction

Name: Marshall Law(No, this is not a reference to anything, this is just the first name that popped up in my mind)

Looks: 

Height: 5'4

Eyes: Amber

Gender: Male

Hair: Short and blue (Dyed, natural hair colour is light brown)

Clothes: Red hoodie, black pants, red shoes

Personality: Introverted, and funny, can flirt a little bit, but is easily flustered.

Extra: REALLY smart, and creative, but prefers to use stupid-ass plans over actually good strategies

Also, he has glasses, that he only wears if it's an emergency and he needs to put something on quick, otherwise, he wears contacts.

He is also selfless, and thinks that saving other people is worth it, even if it results in him being injured or dying or anything.  
  


Love interest: Marnie

Favorite Pokemon stat: Speed

Favorite Pokemon strategy: Being tricky with type matchups and messing with someone's head

Least favorite Pokemon strategy: Being defensive and wearing the opponent down slowly. (He's impatient)  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**How well does this follow the main series:** Not that much. Basically, due to some story-related stuff, some Pokemon will have different learnsets AND different abilities from the natural story, as well as the occasional difference in shiny colourations, but all of these differences from the actual Pokemon games will be mentioned as being unnatural, and have a story reason for existing as well. 

This story will also contain Mega Evolution. Why? Because it's cool.


	2. The first steps to greatness.

A crowd cheers loudly for a boy with blue hair, that soaks up the praise with a smile on his face. That boy is our main hero, Marshall, who has just become the greatest trainer in Ga- _*beep beep beep*_

Ahem. Who has just become the great- _*beep beep beep*_

Who- _*beep beep beep beep beep*_

  
_*slam*_

"I'm up, I'm up! Mother of Arceus, why do I have such a loud alarm?"

Saying so, Marshall groans and looks at the time. It was currently 7 a.m., March 24th, 2130. His 16th birthday was yesterday, and he was tired from the party, but, due to being naturally a light sleeper, he woke up early.

"Maybe five minut-"

He mentally stopped himself.

_Do NOT fall for that trap, me. You woke up, it's over, that's it. Now come on._

He sighs, and stands up, taking a shower, and changing into his favorite hoodie and pants. He looks through his bag, making sure that he didn't miss anything.

"Extra clothes, check. Pokeballs, check. Glasses, check. Extra glasses, check....hmm....Ten thousand.......A couple extra Potions, and I should be fine. Yeah, sounds about right."

  
He stands up, and starts walking down the stairs, while grabbing his phone, and greets the figure currently cooking in the kitchen.

"Mornin', Dad. What's cooking?"

"Just an omlette for you. Nothing too special. I think you ate enough yesterday."

Marshall giggles, as he remembers the fond memories of one day ago when he managed to eat half his birthday cake, along with two pizzas.

_Arceus, thanks for the amazing metabolism you gave me. Though, would it kill you to actually make me tall?_

He was a bit self-conscious about his general smallness.

  
He sits down at the table to the smell of his delicious omlette, as he looks at his dad.

His dad was a tall man with medium length black hair that was greying a bit, and a face that seemed much more threatening than he actually was, especially if he made his poker face, which is something he had passed down to Marshall, along with some other things. 

His name was Charles Law. Father, husband (To a wife who's not always around), but most importantly....

He was an agent of the International Police, codename: Ghost.

Of course, no one knew that, except for him, and his close family.

Charles smiles at Marshall gobbling up his food, when a phone call comes. He picks up, and answers.

  
"Hello?"

The voice on the other end says something which immediately makes him go further away from Marshall, which meant that whatever it was, it was related to his job. Of course, like any good and obedient son, he went to eavesdrop on him.

".....So, Team Cipher is back again, eh? Well, then....Yeah. Yeah, alright. I'll meet you at 10 at the usual spot. Bye, Looker."

He hangs up, and sighs.

"You're not exactly the stealthiest, Marshy.......But, yeah, Dad's got a new job to do."

"....Good luck, dad. And....if you can...could you...."

Charles smiles at Marshall. He knew him like the back of his hand.

"Bring you some cool machines? I'll keep it in mind, kiddo. Now, you should go ahead, wouldn't wanna keep the prof waiting, would ya?"

  
Marshall nods, as he picks up his backpack, and heads out.

"Bye, dad! Stay safe! Make sure to lock up all the bad guys!"

  
Saying so, he runs all the way to the neighbour's house, and barely avoids bumping into a boy with purple hair.

"Whoa there, bud. You'd better slow down there, before ya get hurt!"

This was Hop, one of Marshall's new friends since he moved to Galar. Hop also happened to be the younger brother of the current Galar champion, Leon, a man with a small stubble, and long purple hair, who approached the two of them.

"Marshall, Hop! It's good to see you two! Now, I know, you guys might want an autograph or a ride on Charizard, but, we REALLY need to get going. Now, c'mon!"

Leon had a bit (slightly more than a bit) of an ego. He was the self-proclaimed unbeatable champ of Galar, but, unlike other egotists, he could actually walk the talk. He had offered Hop and Marshall the opportunity to take the Pokemon League challenge, with his sponsorship. Hop immediately accepted, and Marshall accepted after realizing that this could be his best chance at doing the one thing he loved most: exploring the world to his heart's content, starting with Galar.

"Alrighty then, we're here!"

Marshall is snapped out of his thoughts, as he sees that 'here' is.....just a picnic spot under a tree....close to a mansion?

"What the......Are we going on an adventure or a picnic?"

Leon smirks, and chuckles, as he looks at a woman who had just walked up. She was slightly shorter than Leon, and had long and slightly curly orange hair.

"Marshall and Hop, right? I'm Sonia, the new Professor of the region. Nice to meet you!"

Marshall nods, and holds his hand out for a handshake.

"M-Marshall Law. The dude who isn't the champ's brother."

Sonia giggles, and pulls out three Pokeballs out of her bag.

"Nice to meet you, Marshall. I've heard from Hop and Leon about your sense of humor, and, I gotta say, you don't disappoint. Now, I'm giving you first pick out of the starters, but you should know something about these guys. They're....."

  
She sighs, and rubs her forehead.

"....They've been experimented on. I don't know who did it, and I don't know why, but Leon told me that he rescued them. These guys are special, in that....they have their Hidden Abilities. They don't trust humans too much, so, I'll take care of the one that's left, and you two choose first."

  
Saying so, she lets the Pokemon out of their balls.

The first one is a fire type bunny, that runs around at a blistering speed, and does a small little flip, before landing on the....air? Oh wait, no, that's just the water type lizard, that had been invisible this whole time. It shyly pushes the fire type off, and then there was the grass type monkey, who was not paying attention at all to anything, and just banging its stick against Sonia's leg.

".....Scorbunny's the Fire type, the orange and white one, Sobble's that blue one, Water type, and Grookey's the green one, Grass type."

  
Marshall looks at Scorbunny, who was speeding around as if it was a child overdosed on sugar.

_Mood._

".....I....I-I think I'll take Scorbunny."

Marshall goes to Scorbunny, and holds his hand out to it, as it jumps onto his shoulder, and immediately starts looking around, extremely hyperactive.

"Thanks, Marshall! I liked all of them equally, so, I'll pick Sobble. He actually kind of reminds me of you at times."

Saying so, Hop picks up Sobble, who stares at him for a second before slowly nodding.

  
"Perfect, it seems that you two already have a bond! Now, c'mon, little bro, show me what ya got! 1 on 1, no items, 321 GO!"

  
"Waiwaitwha-"

Marshall tried to object, but him and Hop were dragged away to a nearby field made for Pokemon Battles.


	3. The trickster unfolds

Leon stops dragging Hop and Marshall, and gestures to the small, makeshift arena.

"You have your pokemon. We have an arena. Now, come on. Battle!"

Leon was itching to see a fight, he was truthfully bored. Hop puts Sobble down, and smiles at him.

"Well, considering the types, we should win! By the way, what's the starting movesets for these guys?"

Marshall sighs, and he thinks about the matchup for a second.

_Okay, so, I'm at a type disadvantage, buuut....I could be faster than it. It isn't a confirm, but.....it's a possibility...._

"Leon, you moron, at least let me give these two a Pokedex first!"

"My bad, Sonia. It was getting boring, and plus, the kids have to learn some time, y'know."

Professor Sonia runs to both of us, giving us two devices that look like phones.

"These are the Pokedexes. They are EXTREMELY important. Get your fingerprints on them, and then you can start the battle."

Marshall nods, and scans in his fingerprint. He then looks at a brief summary of Scorbunny.

"...Tackle, Growl, and Ember....And you're a female? Huh, that's neat. Hasty nature.....Seems fine eno-.....Libero? What's tha-"

Leon groans loudly, and shouts at them.

"GET ON WITH IT, YOU'LL LEARN BETTER WHEN YOU FIGHT!"

Marshall sighs.

_I agree, but do you have to shout? Oh, well. No place to learn like the field, like Dad always says._

Marshall puts Scorbunny down, who looks at him, and smirks, although it doesn't reach her eyes, leaning back on her feet and putting her hands behind her head.

"Aren't you a bundle of sass."

Hop puts Sobble down, and smiles at Marshall.

"Let the battle begin!"

Both Scorbunny and Sobble rocket off towards each other, as Marshall observes calmly. Sobble jumps up, and goes for a water gun at Hop's command, but misses, just barely.

_We have the speed advantage. But not by much._

"Ember!"

Scorbunny fires off and Ember, which hits Sobble in the foot, causing it to trip.

"Wow, and I thought you were smart, Marshall! What's the big idea?"

Leon taunts, seeming slightly amused.

Marshall smirks, as Scorbunny starts running even faster.

"The damage is reduced. Who said it's zero? TACKLE!"

Scorbunny nods warily, and runs into Sobble, but it slips away, barely, and Hop's face lights up with 'Oh, you're dead' type hype, as he screams out,

"WATER GUN!"

"At that close of a range, a critical hit is all but guaranteed. Combined with the type disadvantage, that's almost a guaranteed K.O.. Sonia, why are you doing your evil scientist smile?"

"You'll see."

Scorbunny gets hit from the Water gun, with enough force to be pushed far away, right in the spot for a critical hit, as Marshall sighs.

"Welp, I tried. Good ga-"

Scorbunny was still standing, but barely, as she looks at Marshall, with an angry look on her face. She speeds up, and hits an unexpecting Sobble right on with a Tackle, with enough force to make it faint.

"....Wha? N-no, you-I.....I don't know how you....."

Scorbunny walks up to Marshall sassily, and flicks his leg.

"...Alright, you made your point, I won't underestimate you. But still, what the heck? Also, that Tackle did more damage than I expected."

"Libero."

"Huh?"

Marshall turns to Sonia, who starts healing Scorbunny up, as she explains.

"Scorbunny's Hidden Ability is Libero. It changes its type to whatever move it uses. It's a double-edged sword, if you aren't careful, but, yeah. What happened was that Scorbunny used Tackle, turning it into a Normal type, so, it didn't get the weakness of Water that a Fire type would have. If you hadn't done that, it would've been game over, especially since, Sobble's Hidden Ability is Sniper, so, critical hits are even more powerful....You got lucky."

Marshall looks at Scorbunny, and smirks, holding his hand out to her. Scorbunny stares warily at the hand, and high-fives it, but doesn't allow him to pet her.

"That's.....fair. But, look at you! You're a wild card! You're....my ace in the hole! Yeah.....Y'know what, c'mon...Ace. This is gonna be a fun journey."

Marshall holds a Pokeball out to Ace, but she shakes her head, and looks at him with extremely sad eyes.

"Oh, wha-that is cheating! How the heck am I supposed to say no to those eyes?....Fiiine, you can stay out."

He stands up, as Ace climbs onto his shoulder.

"Marshall, Hop, c'mere!"

Leon calls out to them, as Sonia sighs, and walks with both of them.

"There's a lot of things to explain, you two. C'mon."


	4. Chapter 4

Sonia gives Marshall his Pokedex back after the data transfer finishes taking the data from his own phone.

"Perfect. All your contacts, games, music, and everything else is on the Pokedex phone now. Marshall, be a sweetie and pull up the PC for me, please?"  
  


Marshall nods, as he opens the PC app.

"Alright. So, most kids your age aren't okay with a team of just six, and, I agree, there's WAY too many options. So, I got to work on inventing this! It's a portable PC, in which you can store and take out any Pokemon you'd like. Any Pokemon in storage are kept at a specially paid-for farm. Because of your sponsorship and your acceptance to be Pokedex holders, you will be getting 32 PC boxes for free, which rounds out to about......960 Pokemon. I think that should suffice, right, Marshall and Hop?"  
  


Marshall nods, as Hop pats his back.

"Alrighty then, Marshall, I'm heading to Motostoke Town, then from there, to Turrfield. That's where the first Gym is. You wanna come with?"  
  


"No thanks, I'll go solo."

_Ace's good, but...She doesn't trust me too much. She'll probably feel more comfortable if I can have more Pokemon for her to spend time with. Won't have much time to catch something if I'm competing with him for captures..._   
  


"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm heading out."  
  


Saying so, Marshall picks Ace up, and walks out, giving Sonia and Leon a mock salute.  
  


"Aaaaalrighty then, Ace. I'll get some friends for you, since that's probably what you need the most."

Hearing this, Ace nods and jumps onto Marshall's shoulder, looking around jumpily.   
  


Marshall sets off into the first route, enjoying the view, as her ears twitch, as some grass rustles in a nearby forest, and she keeps hitting Marshall in the head until he notices.  
  


"Wha? Oh. Well then, Acey, buddy, time to get you some new friends!"

Marshall smiles, as he runs over to the forest, to see......  
  


Two pokemon....that didn't look native to Galar....At all. He takes out his phone-dex to scan them, but, it wasn't even in the Pokedex database?  
  


"...Huh? What the he-"

Marshall was interrupted by snapping a twig under his foot, as the two Pokemon looked at him. One of them was a green Pokemon, that looked like some sort of a....lizard? Gecko? And the other one was a...pale blue frog-like Pokemon.....Wait, did the frog-like Pokemon just shimmer in the light? Oh.  
  


_OHMYGODITSASHINYYYYYYYY_   
  


Marshall audibly squees, as he puts Ace down.

"Okay, Ace, it's two against one, but I'm sure you got this, right? Please? Please? Pleasepleaseplease? idontwannamissashiny"  
  


Ace just rolls her eyes, and gets ready to battle.

_The wood lizard thing seems a bit more....aggressive. I should probably lower its stats first._

"Growl!"

Ace does exactly as she's told, and- _wait._

_When someone's stats are lowered, shouldn't they be surrounded with blue particles that go down? Instead of....orange particles that go up? That sounds like a.......stat.......increase....oh no._   
  


The frog-like Pokemon spits out some bubbles, aiming for Ace, while the lizard-like Pokemon tries to punch her.   
  


Before he could think, Marshall jumps in, and takes the punch from the lizard, while throwing Ace over the bubbles, aiming for the frog.

_Oh crapohcrapohcrap whatamidoingidontknow uhhh...SHOUT OUT SOMETHING_

"TACKLE!"

He screams out his command before taking the punch, and being knocked into a tree. He gets up wonkily, to see that the Tackle hit the frog before it could react, and the lizard was looking at Ace with a vengeance. This time, Marshall is slightly more prepared, and Ace was at less of a disadvantage, as the frog was stunned due to the Tackle.

_Okay, so, the lizard thingy should be a Grass type, due to the green colour....._   
  


"Ember!"

Ace agrees, and spits out a ball of flames at the lizard, which gets knocked back, and then takes a deep breath, as it looks at Ace. It then looks at Marshall with pure rage, as it spits out a....ball of blue fire?  
  


_T-that's Dragon Breath! What the heck?_   
  


Marshall jumps out of the way, as he runs towards Ace, picks her up, and brings out a Pokeball.  
  


"Luck, don't fail me now!"  
  


He throws the ball at the lizard, and throws Ace at the frog.

"Ember!"

Ace breathes fire at the frog, who takes a surprising amount of damage for a Water type, while the lizard goes into the Pokeball, as it shakes once....Twice....THRICE.......

_Pleasepleaseplease-_

The ball breaks, as Marshall groans, and sighs.

_NO!_   
  


Both Pokemon then grab each other, and back up to a tree, as Marshall walks to them, before looking at their eyes.

 _.....Green one seems....Stoic....and the pale blue one's....a bit of a scaredy cat_.... _Both of them seem to..hate humans? Wait, they aren't native, the dex couldn't identify them...Ace was an experiment....could these be experiments, too?_

Marshall pulls Ace away, and walks to the two, as he bends down.

"Hey. You two...I'm sorry about that. Reflexes. Plus, I needed to get Ace some friends. You guys do seem powerful, no doubt about that, but....I don't know how you'd survive out here, because you two don't seem native to this place. Since you two aren't native, you'd probably have a REALLY hard time surviving, given how bad things can get on occasion. So, how about it?"

He hesitantly holds his hand out to them.

"I won't force you. I'm giving you the option."

The two look at each other, and then look at Ace, who looks at Marshall, before hesitantly nodding. The two walk up to Marshall, as he taps two Pokeballs on them, and after three shakes, they were captured.

He lets them out, and that's when he noticed that both of them....had some sort of necklace on them? He took out the necklaces, and saw that both of the necklaces had data chips on them.

"....This is getting weird."

He stands up, and looks at his team, as he starts walking out.

_I should call the Professor....and...crap, these chips don't go into the Dex. Alright, get to the next town, call the Prof, and scan the data on these chips. That's the next step._

Thinking so, Marshall walks towards his next stop, Motostoke Town.


	5. Getting roped in deeper

Marshall was sitting at the Motostoke Pokemon Center, using the free PC there to get the data from the chips, and extracting them to his phone.

He then walks out, to a clear spot under some trees, as he goes through the information text files.

**_Hidden Ability Project FRK: The first shifter_ **

**Froakie, codenamed Project FRK, is a Pokemon that is well known for its speed and power. However, similar to recent studies involving Project SCR, it also has a Hidden Ability that allows it to change its type, this time, called Protean. Froakie's power was discovered first, and, with the aid of Project FRK, we can make it even stronger, by giving it access to a move type it could never turn into while doing damage. This Froakie has the potential to learn Poison Jab, an endeavor that took 250 attempts to get right, however, it was all worth it, in the pursuit of perfection. This one, alongside Hidden Ability Project TRC, is set to be given to our admins via the NCS, more information in the NCS (Natural Capture Simulation) folder.**

Marshall immediately covers his mouth with his hand, as the gears in his head start to turn. He looked over at the list of files again, and, there was nothing related to Project NCS, nothing related to Project SCR, it was only Project TRC and FRK. He shuddered, and opened the file for the other project.

**_Hidden Ability Project TRC: The mirror_ **

**Treecko, codenamed Project TRC, is another Pokemon that is well known for its speed, power, but most importantly, its Mega Evolution. However, its Hidden Ability, Unburden, is not a very useful Ability, and neither is the Mega Ability of Lighting Rod. Thankfully, our scientists have managed to do combined DNA tests with a different Grass-Type family, that being Snivy, giving Treecko access to the elusive, yet powerful Ability of Contrary. We have also managed to unlock the secrets of its Dragon Type without making it Mega-Evolve, thus, giving it natural access to many Dragon-type moves. In order to make use of Contrary, it also has access to Superpower, making it a force to behold in combat. This was an endeavor that took 500 attempts to get right, however, it was all worth it, in the pursuit of perfection. This one, alongside Hidden Ability Project FRK, is set to be given to our admins via the NCS, more information in the NCS (Natural Capture Simulation) folder.**

Marshall, once again, was horrified. 500...250...all those attempts...all those Pokemon...and these two were the survivors. He looked at their conditions, and they both were fast asleep inside their Pokeballs. He was not about to let them out just yet. 

_I shouldn't tell the Prof about this yet....Maybe should call Dad..._

He takes a deep breath, and stands up, before someone hits him on the back.

"Marshall! You're here!"

"O-oh, hey, Hop, bud! Nice to see that you're here, too! What's up?"

"Not much, but I DID catch two new team members! Meet Rookidee, and Wooloo!"

Saying so, Hop lets the two out, a flying-type bird-like Pokemon, and what seemed to be a normal-type sheep Pokemon. Marshall smiles at that, as he pets Wooloo.

"He's fluffy, isn't he? Anyways, Marshall, I see that you've got three Pokeballs full. One of them's probably Acey, but what about the other two?"

"Treecko and Froakie are asleep right now, wouldn't wanna disturb them, y'know."

".....Treecko and Froakie....Wait a minute...I don't think there's any Pokemon like those in Galar..I've done my research, man. Treecko's a Hoenn Pokemon. And Froakie's from Kalos."

"O-oh, uhhh..."

Marshall was at a bit of a loss for words. While it is true that Marshall was a nerd, so was Hop. It's just that they both were nerdy on different aspects. Marshall was nerdy about videogames, TV, and books. He was smart, sure, but he was more street-smart, mostly due to his dad. Meanwhile, Hop was moreso nerdy towards Pokemon in general, having learned types, moves, regions, and all that by heart. He was more book-smart. 

_Need to come up with something quick, uhh..._

He looks around for a moment, as his eyes settle on a nearby house with a red roof.

_Red....._

He turns to Hop with a smile, and a terrible idea.

"Okay, Hop, do you know about the old Champion from Kanto who gave up his title, Red?"

"Pfft, would I even exist if I didn't? Why do you think Leon's Charizard is so popular?"

"Yeah, yeah, anyways. S-so, I met Red online, on this forum, uhhh.....crap, what was it called....Digimon! That's the one! So yeah, I met him on, uh, that forum about Trainers, and, we hit it off, and then we got acquainted on Luvdiscord. Obviously, I was always starstruck with him, but, yeah, he was a cool guy, a-and, today, when I told him that I was setting off, he actually gave me these two as gifts, cos, y'know, he's travelled the whole world."

Marshall had stuttered his way through the lie, thankfully, it would look natural because he already stuttered a lot.

"....Cool. So, could I meet him in person?"

"....W-when I meet him in person, I'll invite you, too."

Hop nods at this, and pats Marshall's back.

"Alrighty, then. Also, I wanted to ask you.....did you bring a tent?"

Marshall goes over his mental checklist, and then facepalms.

"I KNEW IT! I KNEW I WAS FORGETTING SOMETHING!...Well....I still do have my sleeping bag....."

"Knew it. Come on, then. We should travel together for a while then, up until Turrfield, the Pokemart there does sell tents."

Marshall nods, as he stands up, looking at the sun slowly setting. He looks at Hop, and starts walking off, waving to Hop to follow, as he looks at his Pokeballs. The Pokemon were awake now, and could hear him.

"Treecko.......you were being as brave as a knight.....what are some good knight names? Lancelot?.....No.....You're more of a.....Percival. Yeah, you can be that."

"And Froakie.....you could be.....hmm...you weren't exactly doing much....but you have great potential....like Ace....hmm.....Arceus, it's so hard deciding.......hmm.....Y'know, there's this one character from this one game which surprisingly works a lot like our world...I'm gonna name you after one of my favorite characters in the game....Jiraiya. Why? Because it sounds cool."

Hop looks at Marshall, and smiles.

"Not too bad. Maybe I should join the club, make a few nicknames, whaddya think?"

"......When your brother had a Charmander, you named it 'Flamey'. I don't think you should try if you wanna be respectable. Of course, if you can destroy your brother with a Fire-type named 'Firebutt', I will pull my pants down in public and salute you."

Hop chuckles, as both of them start pitching up the tent, basking under the moonlight.

"...Marshall."

"Yeah?"

"D'you think we......have a chance?"

Marshall looks at Hop, before looking up at the sky.

"Maybe we do, maybe we don't. Arceus knows. But, Arcy hasn't done too much noteworthy in a while, so, I wouldn't go asking him for advice. Nowadays, I just use his name out of habit."

He puts up his sleeping bag inside the tent, as Hop does the same, and pats his shoulder.

"Good night, Hop."

"Good night, Marshall."


End file.
